South Korea to open schools online, reschedule college exam

SEOUL (REUTERS) - South Korea on Tuesday (March 31) cancelled the planned re-opening of schools next week because of the danger of the coronavirus as clusters of infections flare, and will instead launch online classes while delaying the annual college entrance exams.

After a big early outbreak, South Korea has largely managed to bring down its daily number of new cases to around 100 or less, but infections from small clusters including churches, hospitals and nursing homes, as well as imported cases, continue to arise.

Authorities have postponed the beginning of the new school semester three times from early March to April 6, and have decided to do so again, given the persistence of the outbreak.

"We regret that we have not reached levels where children can go to schools safely even though we mobilised all our capabilities to substantially decrease risks of infection," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a televised meeting of government officials.

"It is difficult to guarantee the safety of children as the sizable number of new patients emerge every day, and there are concerns that it might spread again from schools to homes and communities."

Instead of re-opening next Monday, schools will launch online classes from April 9, Mr Chung said, vowing to ensure students' access to technology at home to minimise any study gap.

The highly competitive annual college entrance exam, held every October, will also be postponed by two weeks to Dec 3, Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae said.

A government survey of parents and others this week showed 72 per cent of respondents opposed the April 6 opening of schools, and 66% supported online teaching, Ms Yoo said.

"We will explore measures to carry out actual classes and online lessons in parallel, possibly starting in April, depending on the situation," she told a briefing.

The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported 125 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the total infections to 9,786.

The death toll stood at 162.

The latest tally of new cases marks an uptick from 78 on Monday.

Of the new cases, 60 were from the hard-hit south-eastern city of Daegu, where a hospital saw more than 75 infections over the past few days, KCDC data showed.

Another 29 were travellers arriving from abroad, all but one of them Korean.

Starting on Wednesday, everyone arriving from abroad will have to spend two weeks in quarantine under new rules aimed at curbing imported cases.

Some 7,000 people are expected to land every day, most of them students studying abroad.

Authorities have warned of a "zero-tolerance" policy for anyone breaking the quarantine rules, with punishment of a year in prison or a fine of up to 10 million won (S$11,668).

"Whether it is our citizen or a foreign national, please keep in mind that this is an obligation you must accept as a member of the community, a step not only to monitor your health conditions but also to prevent yourself from spreading the virus," vice health minister Kim Gang-lip told a separate briefing.